Don't give politicians power over districts

July 31, 2012 - 2:00 AM

Anybody wondering how things will turn out if Ulster County legislators get veto power over redistricting need only think back to earlier this year when legislators in Albany held onto the same control.

Give those in office the power to draw the lines of voting districts and they will start by putting their homes in the center of each one, surrounded by likely voters who know them. Then, they will make sure to draw the lines so that the district has more members of their political party. If they have identified any potential challengers, they will make sure to put them on the fringes of any district. If there is to be any consolidation, those in power will be sure to put incumbents of the minority party in a single district, letting them fight each other while those in the majority coast to re-election with little or no opposition.

That's what Senate Republicans and Assembly Democrats did to state legislative districts. The Republicans went even further, creating an additional district with friendly demographics to help consolidate their hold on power for the next decade.

The Albany pols did all this after promising they would not, even signing an oath that they later shredded. So there is no reason to believe that the politicians in Ulster are any more likely to resist the temptation that comes with the power to draw district lines.

That's why the county charter gave that task to an independent commission, one that would base its decisions on fairness and equity, not past favors and future power.

Gerald Benjamin, a member of the charter commission and the acknowledged local — and beyond — expert in government organization said that the independent commission was empowered for a very good reason: "You don't ask self-interested people to act where their own interests are deeply implicated."

Mike Hein, the county executive, has vowed to veto any change, as he should.